Principal training

Before you start

Your school office or the saMas team has already added you; if sign-in says you are not linked to a school yet, ask them.

1. Sign in

   High2 min
   1. Open admin.pilot.beta.samas.school, your school's admin site.
   2. Press Continue with Google if your email is a Google account. Otherwise type your Email address and press Continue.
   3. On Check your email, type the 6-digit code we sent you and press Sign in.
   4. The admin site asks for your two-step code once it is set up. Bookmark this address: your work lives here.
   You'll seeYour dashboard.
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2. Set up your two-step code

   High3 min
   1. Press your picture at the top right, then Account and security.
   2. Press Set up two-step. You may be asked to confirm it's you first.
   3. Scan the QR code with an authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator or 1Password) and type the 6-digit code it shows. Press Turn on two-step.
   4. Save your backup codes with Copy or Download, then press I have saved them.

   Each backup code works once, for a day your phone is not with you. Office work on the admin site needs this code. If the code does not match, delete older saMas School entries in your app and set your phone's time to automatic.

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3. Check your name, role and school

   High2 min
   1. Press your picture at the top right. Your name, email and school are shown there.
   2. The menu should show Dashboard, Messages, Leave, Exams and Audit trail. If it doesn't, your role is wrong: tell the saMas team.
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Your first week

In this order. High tasks first.

1. Read the dashboard for today's attendance

   High5 min
   1. Open Dashboard. The cards show Students, Attendance today, Collected this month and Overdue.
   2. Look at Registers still to mark: every section that has not marked today, with its class teacher.
   3. Look at Needs attention: proofs to check, refunds and discounts to approve, and overdue invoices.
   You'll see"Every section is marked. Well done." once all registers are in. Present and late both count as attending.
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2. Make sure every section has a class teacher

   High5 min
   1. Open Classes and subjects and choose the Sections tab.
   2. Pick a class from Choose a class. Each section shows its class teacher, or "No class teacher".
   3. Press the pencil (Edit section), choose the Class teacher, and save.
   You'll see"Section updated". The Overview tab shows "Every section has one" when you are done.

   Only the class teacher (or the office) marks a section's register, so a section without one has no register.

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3. Decide leave that is waiting

   High5 min
   1. Open Leave. The Waiting tab lists every request with the dates and the periods the person teaches.
   2. Press Approve, or Turn down and type a Reason.
   You'll see"Approved. They are told by email." The Who is away tab shows who is out today and in the next 6 weeks.

   Decide anything waiting more than 2 days. You cannot decide your own request: it says "Your own: someone else decides".

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4. Make sure at least two people run the office

   High2 min
   1. Open Users and roles and check there are at least two people who are principal or school admin.
   2. If you are the only one, press Invite someone, pick School admin or Principal, and give their email. That way the school is never locked out when one of you is away.
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5. Post a welcome announcement

   Medium5 min
   1. Open Announcements and press New announcement.
   2. Write a Title and Message. Leave Audience roles and Sections empty to reach the whole school.
   3. Choose Publish at (now or later), an optional Expires at, and Pin to the top if it should stay first.
   4. Press Post.
   You'll see"Announcement posted", or "Announcement scheduled" for a later time.
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6. Look at reported conversations each day

   Medium3 min
   1. Open Messages, choose All conversations and tick Reported only.
   2. Open a conversation. On a reported message, press Remove and type a Reason, or Keep it, close the report.
   3. To stop someone sending for a while, use Pause someone, pick the person and give a Reason.
   You'll seeA banner: "Opening this conversation is recorded in the audit trail." Removed messages show "Removed by the school".

   A paused person can still read, and is told. Lift it from the Paused tab.

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7. Learn how exam results are published

   Medium4 min
   1. Open Exams and open a term (or New exam term).
   2. Papers go on the Date sheet; Send out the date sheet tells families.
   3. When marks are in, open Results and press Publish results for a class.
   You'll see"X of Y marks are in". If some are missing you must say why. Then "Families can see them now and have been told."

   Results can only be published after the date sheet is sent. Publishing locks that class's papers.

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8. Review seats and the admissions board

   Medium5 min
   1. Open Admissions. Under Seats per class, type the limit for each class (blank means no limit, 0 closes the class to online applications).
   2. The board shows each application by step. Open one to move it on: Start review, Book test or interview, Offer a place, Mark accepted, then Enrol.
   You'll see"Done. The family is told." Each step emails the family.

   Offering a place in a full class needs Offer even if the class is full and a reason.

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9. Watch over Live Sabaq

   Low5 min

   You and the saMas safety team receive every Live Sabaq report, and you may play a session's recording with a reason.

   1. Open Live Sabaq records under Madrasa. Reports lists problems from sessions, each due within 24 hours.
   2. Open Session record on a session and type why you are playing it, then press Play the recording.
   3. Press Close the report with what was found and done.

   The family is told when you play their child's recording. A report about the principal goes to the saMas team only.

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10. Find a setting and pin it

    Medium5 min

    Every setting card and settings page is in the search, by name, by other words for it and by what it does.

    1. Press Search in the top bar (or Ctrl K) and type the name of a setting, or a word from what it does: "dark" finds Theme, "fee heads" finds Fee structure.
    2. The Settings group lists each match with where it lives. Open the row: the page opens, scrolled to the card, outlined in yellow for a moment.
    3. Press the pin on the card. It fills in, the setting shows at the top of Settings under Pinned, and the left menu gains Pinned settings.
    4. A setting your role cannot change still shows: the row says who can and names them. Press Ask to open a message to them with the words written and a link that lands them on the card.

    Pins are yours alone: the same list on your phone and laptop and at every school you belong to. Until you pin anything you see the pins the school chose for your role, marked "set by the school". At most 12. Press x on a chip or Pin more on the Pinned card to change them.

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When you have time

1. Look at the audit trail

   Low3 min
   1. Open Audit trail. Changes shows who changed what and when; open a row to see before and after.
   2. Conversations opened shows every time the office read a conversation it was not in.
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2. Check your team's progress

   Low3 min
   1. Open Team progress. It shows who has finished Getting started, who has been quiet for 3 days or more, and who was invited but has not signed in.
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3. Follow what your school sent to saMas

   Low3 min
   1. Open Reports and ideas, tab To saMas: the app problems and ideas your people sent, with the saMas replies. Add a note with Add a note.
   2. Tab Roadmap shows what the saMas team plans, and what your school asked for.

   You can read these and add a note; you cannot close them or change their priority. A report the sender kept private to saMas is not listed.

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4. Set who earns what from each fee (Pay add-on)

   Low5 min
   1. Open Splits under Finance and press Add a split: a percent for a program, for a program and fee head together, or for one teacher, from a date. Press Save split.
   2. Use Try it with a student and an amount to see the split in rupees. Under Defaults, mark which fee heads are teaching fees; admission, annual charges and late fees are never split.
   You'll seeThe rules in force, most specific first. The finance in-charge sees the same page without the buttons.

   Only with the Pay add-on on. A change applies to payments after the From date and never rewrites earnings already written.

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5. Approve a payout run (Pay add-on)

   Low3 min
   1. When the finance in-charge sends a run for approval, open Payouts and the run. Read the teachers, the amounts and the rail, then press Approve.
   You'll seeThe run moves to Approved; the finance in-charge presses Send. Nothing leaves the school's account without both of you.

   The person who opened the run cannot approve it, and the person who approved it cannot send it. Approve asks for a fresh sign-in.

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Settings for the school (messages rules, directory, timezone) are changed by the school admin. Agree them together.

Run the Quran Madrasa

Watch the one minute film, then keep the one page guide open while you try it. The Quran Madrasa add-on is live at Gulistan-e-Mussarat Madrassa.

When something goes wrong

Check yourself

Three levels of five questions. Pass a level with 4 right to open the next. Your answers stay on this device.